Baptism - Our Confession

Now, I hope you will take your
Bibles and plan to follow as I speak to you on this subject,
Baptism, Our Consumption. I want to make four statements
by way of introducing the message today, and I want you to think
about these four statements, think seriously about them. First of all, I don't believe,
it doesn't seem possible to me, that a man can claim to be a
disciple of Jesus Christ, a Christian, a saved person, by whatever term
you want to call him. It's difficult for me to understand
how a man can claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, a believer,
a Christian, who is not teaching the Lord daily with his whole
heart. I count all things but love for
the excellence in the knowledge of Christ my Lord. He said, I
do count them but doing that I may win Christ and be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but the
righteousness which is of God in Christ Jesus, that I may know
him, that I may know him. I count not myself to have apprehended. I consider myself not to be perfect. but I pressed for the mark of
the prize of the high calling of Christ my Lord. I'm teaching
the Lord, teaching the Lord. David said, Is the heart cantor
for the water book so cantor, or teacheth my soul for good?
I don't understand how a man can call himself, a woman, boy,
girl, can call himself a Christian, a disciple of Christ, he's not
teaching the Lord. He's not making it his business,
his life, to teach the Lord. That's the second statement.
You think about these things. I don't understand. I cannot,
to save my life, understand how a man or a woman, how an individual
can call himself a Christian, a disciple, a believer of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is not growing in the grace of Christ,
who is not growing in the knowledge of Christ. I want you to look
at two verses of Scripture, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. You deal with these
things and you explain them. Don't deal with me, deal with
yourself and explain them to yourself. 2 Corinthians 3, verse
18. Listen to this. with open faith, beholding as
in a glass the glory of the Lord. We have beheld the glory of the
Lord, the glory of his grace, the glory of his mercy, the glory
of his unspeakable gifts, the glory of his substitutionary
works, the glory of his sacrifice. We've seen this, the glory of
the Lord. And we who have seen it, beholding
it in a glass, dimly, We know in part, but we've beheld it,
and we are changed, we are being changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, look at 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 6, right on down a few verses. God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness. God created this world, it was
in darkness, it was upon the face of the deep. Then God moved
on the face of the water. And God said, and there was light.
God said, and let there be light. And this world was flooded with
light. Now, look at this verse. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts. That same
voice, that same power that created the world, that gave light to
a dark world, that same power has shined in our hearts. to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. That miracle has taken place.
And God made this world and created and developed this world. After
he said, Let there be light, he began to put a tree and a
valley and a river and a lake and a mountain and all these
things on the sixth-day man. And he looked at it and said,
It's all good, it's all good. Now, explain to me how God who
creates things in that world should save a man, give him the
light of Christ. He says, let there be light,
and that person has the light of Christ and the glory of God.
And yet there's no development, there's no growth, there's no
creation, there's no fruit, there's no life. It's just that old thing,
dead, barren wilderness with light shining on it. I don't
believe that. I don't believe that. Those who
have been brought to life in Christ Jesus, that tree that
has been planted by the river of water, will bring forth fruit. It has to, because Christ, when
it came to the barren fig tree with nothing but leaves, Now
a tree that does not bear fruit, he says, dig it up, why cumber
it with the grass. That's the third statement. These
things, you think about them. How can a man claim to be a believer,
a Christian, a disciple of Christ, and not walk after the Lord,
not seek the Lord, not care whether he's with the Lord or in his
presence or at his throne? He's a disciple of Christ, but
he's not learning of Christ. He's off somewhere learning of
something else, following someone else. No, can't be. And a man
who has had the light of God revealed to his soul, and he's
a new creature in Christ Jesus and his creation? Now, he's not
growing in grace. Now, the third, I don't understand
how a person has the right to claim to be a disciple of Jesus
Christ, a Christian, a believer, who does not continue in the
faith of Christ. Turn to Hebrews 3. In the 3rd
chapter of Hebrews, verse 6, now listen to the scripture. This is what God's word says,
Hebrews 3, verse 6, that Christ, as a son over his own house,
We are his house. If we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Look at verse 14. We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. The fourth question, in other
words, the person who falls to the wayside and departs from
the faith, John said they never were of the faith. They never
were of Christ's house. They never were children of the
kingdom. They never were participants in the death of Christ. If they
had been of us, John said, they no doubt would have continued
with us. The fourth statement, and this brings us to the message.
I don't understand or cannot believe that a person has the
right to call himself a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a disciple
of Christ. a believer in Christ who has
not and who will not publicly confess his faith and his confidence
and his interest in Jesus Christ. I turn to Romans 10. I do not
believe it. Romans 10, verse 9 and 10. I want you to listen to this.
Romans 10, 9 and 10. the Lord Jesus, and shall believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth contention is made
unto salvation." Now, the longer I look into the Word of God and
the longer I preach the gospel, the more with the importance, with the
significance and with the beauty of the two ordinances that the
Lord left to us today, the Lord's suffering and baptism. Take this example. Here is a
man who has heard the gospel, whether he's heard it on the
radio or television or heard it in a congregation like this.
Up to this time he's been a pagan, as far as God's concerned, a
heathen, without a knowledge of Christ, without a knowledge
of his guilt, without a knowledge of his sin. But the Holy Spirit
brings him to the other world. He hears God's law as it sits
in judgment on his thoughts and on his nature and on his deeds
and on his motive, on his attitude. He knows the law of God as it
condemns him. Let every mouth be stopped and
all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty before God. God
has crossed the path of this individual, this man or woman,
with the word of God, with the law of God, and broken and stripped
and laid in barren before God's holy law. Guilty. He comes up
crying, guilty, guilty. I'm a guilty sinner. I'm guilty
before God. My sins are ever before me. Against
me, O Lord, and thee only have I sinned. I'm guilty. I need
to be purged with his stuff. I need to be washed. I need to
be cleansed. I'm guilty." The Scripture shows him through
the mouth of one of God's servants, the reading of the word of God
himself, that there's no way that he can satisfy God's law. You that would be saved by the
law, Paul said, don't you hear the law? Don't you understand
the requirements of God's law, the spirituality of God's law? But one day the Holy Spirit brought
the law to me, and I saw the spirituality of it. I saw that
the law required more than just outward performance, it required
inward obedience. I saw the law in its true light,
in its true nature, and I was slain. I was slain by the law.
I was shut up by the law. I was rendered helpless and hopeless
by the law. I saw that nowhere in the world
could I satisfy a holy God, that I was guilty before God, that
I needed a Redeemer. Then God showed me Christ, how
that his Son came down into this world in the likeness of human
flesh. that he was numbered with the
transgressors, that he who knew no sin was made sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. How that Christ
went to the cross and bore our guilt and our shame and our sins
and died for us on Calvary. He in the flesh obeyed God's
holy law, and he in the flesh died under God's wrath and was
buried and rose again and ascended back to the right hand of God,
where he is our high priest, where he is our mediator, where
he had received for us. And I believe that. I believe
it. I believe that God Almighty sent
Christ down here into the world as my representative to obey
the law, as my substitute to die on the cross. I believe that.
And I receive him as my Lord. I receive him as my Redeemer. I receive him as my scapegoat,
as my substitute. I receive him as my sacrifice.
I receive him as my prophet, priest, and king. I believe Christ
died on the cross for sinners, and as a sinner I receive him
as my hope, as my refuge. What do I do? How do I confess him? How do
I let the world know that Christ is my Lord? You know how? Pauline and Baptist. That's what
the Scripture says. Turn to the book of Acts 2. That's
the 2nd chapter. Let's follow what God's words
say. In Acts 2, verse 37, Peter had preached to this multitude
of people just what I'm preaching, that Christ Jesus the Lord died
for sinners. And they said in verse 37, when
they heard this, when they heard the message, when they heard
their guilt, they crucified the Lord of Glory, when they heard
Christ was the only Redeemer, they were tricked in their hearts.
And they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men
and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sin, and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost." That's the commandment. Turn to Acts 22. Saul of Tarsus,
the religious Pharisee, had been brought to his knees. He had
been brought to see his guilt, he had been brought to see his
need of Christ. And God sent him a man called Ananias to preach
to him. He said, Lord, what will you
have me do? What will you have me do? And the Lord told him
to go to a certain place, which he told him what to do. So he
went to that place, led by others, because he was strict and blind.
And then it says in verse 12 of Acts 22, And one Ananias,
a devout man according to the law, having a good report of
all the Jews which dwelt there, came to me and said, and said
unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour
I looked up upon him, and he said, Saul, God of our fathers
hath chosen thee, that ye should know his will, that ye should
see that just one, that Christ, and hear his voice, the voice
of his mouth. and that you should be his witness
unto all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why
tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized, arise
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord." What does the Scripture say? What am I to do? I am to
confess my Lord in believer's baptism. Let me give you a few
things here that I think are very important. Will you listen
to me? First of all, if you turn to Matthew 3, you'll find that
our Lord Jesus Christ himself was baptized. Christ himself
was baptized in Matthew 3, beginning with verse 13. Listen to this
picture. Then comeeth Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, comest thou to me? And
Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered
him." And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting
upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Now,
if there was no other reason, no other reason given in God's
Word for believers' baptism, as far as I'm concerned, this
would be enough right here. His footsteps led him into the
waters of baptism, and if I follow his steps, I go there too. Then our Lord commanded us to
be baptized. Turn back to Mark 16. In Mark 16, verse 15, I read
a while ago when I was sick to reading, Christ said to his disciples,
All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye into
all the world and make disciples and baptize them. at the commandment. In Mark 16, verse 15, and he
said to the disciples, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. These are
the marching orders given to the church, and we are not at
liberty to change them. What is the order? Our Lord said,
Go. What is the order? He said, Preach
the gospel. Preach the gospel by my authority.
The authority is given to me, and I give it to you. You go
preach the gospel. What's the order? Make disciples.
Make disciples. What's the order? Then baptize
them. Go into all the world, preach
the gospel, make disciples and baptize them, and then teach
them. Teach them to observe these things that I've commanded you,
and I have no right to leave or to reverse that order or try
to improve on it. Next of all, our Lord was baptized. Our Lord commanded his disciples
to go and preach the gospel, make disciples and baptize them. Thirdly, the apostles baptized
everybody who believed in an exception. Turn, if you will,
to Acts 2. In the second chapter of Acts,
verse 41, Acts 2.41, Now, Peter had preached and they
had cried, What shall we do? He said, Repent and be baptized
in the name of Christ Jesus. Now, verse 41, Then they that
gladly received his word, they didn't receive a fine, they didn't
receive a vision, they didn't receive a dream, they didn't
receive a new revelation, they received God's word. Those who
believed his word, like Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened and
she received his word, those that believed the gospel, they
received the word of God. What did they do? They were baptized. Turn to Acts 8, verse 12. Read
on, Acts 8, verse 12. Listen to this. the things concerning the kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ," when they believe the
Word of God, not Philip turning the moon to gold or turning the
sun to dust or something, not a miracle, not a sign, not a
wonder, but when they believe what he said about Christ. What
did they do? In the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized, both men and women. Now, let's turn to
Acts 8, same chapter, go down to verse 36. Philip is preaching
to the eunuch, and as they went their way, verse 36, they came
to a certain water, and the eunuch said, Here is water. What does
him of me to be baptized? With all your heart you may,"
and he answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went
down, both into the water, full up in the unit, and he baptized
them. Turn to Acts 10, the 10th chapter,
verse 47. Here in the city of Cornelia,
Peter is preaching the gospel. Listen to it. And Peter comes
to the close of his message. People have brought their knowledge
of Christ, and he said in verse 47, Can any man forbid water,
that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy
Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord. Now, Acts 16, verse 33, in the
city of Philippi, we have the disciples everywhere they go,
in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in the desert, in the city of Cornelius,
and now in Philippi, Acts 16, 33, and he took them the same
hour of the night and washed their stripes, that's the jailer,
and he was baptized, he and all his, straightway. Now, my friends,
we follow the example of the Apostles in worshiping the Lord
on Sunday. We don't worship on Saturday.
That's the Sabbath day. So I say, when's the Sabbath
day? It's Saturday, it never has changed. It was Saturday
yesterday and it was Saturday back ten years ago and it was
Saturday back a millennium ago and it was Saturday back before
Christ came. That's the Sabbath day. It's the Sabbath day. It's
Saturday, the first day of the week when we worship. Why? because
the apostles worshiped on the first day of the week, because
they met together on the first day of the week, and because
they taught us to worship on the first day of the week, the
apostles of our Lord. That's the way of his resurrection,
our Lord's third in the tomb on the Sabbath. But we follow
the apostles' teachings. How do we build in our churches?
We have apostles, we have evangelists, we have missionaries, we have
deacons, we have elders, because that's the way the apostles did
it. How do we take the Lord's table? We come together at a
certain given time and we take the wine and the unleavened bread
which represents our Lord's body and his blood. Why do we do that?
Well, the apostles did it. They taught us to do that. Paul
said, What I have received of the Lord I deliver to you. How
the Lord the same night which he was betrayed took bread, broke
it, gave thanks, distributed it, blessed the wine, distributed
it. We do it because they taught
us. What about our moral conduct? We follow the teaching of the
Scriptures. The Word of God that is taught to the disciples. The
Apostle tells us to love one another, to pray for one another,
to exhort one another, to edify one another, to be together in
fellowship, to teach the Word of Christ. They taught us that.
What is there about believer's baptism that we will get? Why
would we follow the apostles on all of these things? We'd
meet on the Lord's Day, we'd have a pastor, airlift, deacon,
our church governor, our moral code, our behavior, all these
things. The Lord's table, we'd do it
like the disciples told us. But when it comes to baptism,
we pick up a little water out of a glass and throw it in somebody's
face. The disciples didn't do that. We bring a baby down and
put that baby in the arms of a preacher and have a woman over
here who is a godmother, and that's a terrible word, and a
man who is a godfather, and that's a terrible word. We're not God. And we take that little baby
and we say some words over it and we sprinkle some water on
it and put it in a covenant. The disciples didn't do that.
But the disciples took a man into the water. who have heard
the gospel and believe the gospel and confess the gospel, they're
taking them to the water and back to every single one of them.
And yet we reject that. There are people who say, well,
I'm just not going to be baptized by mercy, but that's the way
the apostles did it. There are plenty of examples
of belief. There's not one example in this Bible from Genesis to
Revelation of an infant being spanked. Not one. There's not
one command in this Bible from Genesis to Revelation. There
are plenty, there are dozens of examples of people being baptized. I've read to you dozens of them
here, dozens of them. I'm not talking about adult baptism,
I'm talking about believer's baptism. You don't have to be
an adult to be baptized except for a believer. Only believers were baptized. Our Lord said, I read it to you,
you know, he was turning back to it. He said, Go into all the
world and preach the gospel and make disciples and then baptize
them. You don't baptize them and then
preach to them and then make them a disciple. You preach to
them, make a disciple and baptize them. Our Lord said, Go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every preacher who
believes it and is baptized. We reversed that order. We baptize
them, and then later on they become believers. That's not
it. They're believers, and then they're baptized. Peter at Pentecost
said this, Repent, fast, and then be baptized. When Philip was talking to the
eunuch, he said, Here is water. What does Henry need for being
baptized? Philip, watch it now. Philip said, I'm not going to
baptize a man who's not a believer. Do you believe? Here's water,
what with Henry Newton being baptized. Philip said, You're
not going to be baptized until you're a believer. Do you believe
the scriptures? He said, Yes, sir, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, been baptized, not before. Turn to Acts 18 again. Look at this scripture carefully,
Acts 18, verse 8. Look at it carefully, Acts 18,
verse 8. The chief ruler of the synagogue
believed on the Lord with all his heart, and many of the Corinthians,
hearing, believed and were baptized." That's the order. They heard,
they believed, and they were baptized. Never any other order.
Go preach, make disciples, baptize. Hear, believe, baptize. Look
at Acts 19. I want you to look at this carefully
here. Sometimes people come to me after
they sat and listened to the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. God the Holy Spirit has taught
them. They come to me and they say, Brother Mahan, I want to
follow the Lord in baptism. I say, but you are already a
member of the Church. You already remember somebody's
church. Were you not baptized at one time in your life? Yes,
yes, I was sprinkled as a child, or I made a profession of faith
when I was eight or nine or ten or twelve or sixteen, or maybe
in my twenties. And I was baptized by mercy.
I was put on the water. But preacher, I didn't know the
gospel. We were having a revival, and
I just followed the other kids down the aisle. I just made a
profession. I just said, You want to go to heaven? And I raised
my hand. You don't want to go to hell? No. And I raised my
hand, and I came down and made a profession, but it wasn't real.
It wasn't a living experience. It wasn't a vital union with
Christ. It was just religion. That's all. But now I see Christ,
and now I believe on Christ. Now I know he's my Lord, he's
my Savior, he's my substitute, and I want to follow him back
to him. You say, what scripture? What? Acts 19, verse 1. It came to pass that while Apollos
was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast,
came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. He said, Have you
received the Holy Ghost, if you believe? And they said, We have
not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost. And he
said, Well, under what then were you baptized? They said, to John's
baptism. Then said Paul, John baptized
with a baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they
should believe on him who should come, that is, on Christ Jesus.
These people hadn't heard the gospel of Christ. They hadn't
heard the death of Christ. They hadn't heard the sacrifice
of Christ. When they heard this, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. These people were disciples
of a sort. They were religious people of
a sort. They were seekers of what have you. They had been
baptized by form. They had been baptized unto John's
baptism. Evidently they had not heard
the true gospel. Evidently they had not heard
of Christ's sacrifice. They had been baptized as a matter
of form. with no reality, with no experience
of grace, with no knowledge of Christ. They had been baptized,
like many of you had been baptized, as a matter of parable. They
later came to a knowledge of Christ. They later came to a
knowledge of the gospel. And when they came to a knowledge
of Christ and a knowledge of the gospel, they confessed Christ
by being baptized. That first experience or that
first ceremony meant nothing, because it was a ceremony of
form. It was a ceremony of ritualism. I don't confess anything that's
just a matter of form and ritualism. When I come to take the Lord's
table, if I break the bread and put it in my mouth, if I don't
understand what that bread means and what it signifies and what
it symbolizes, it means nothing to me. I take the wine which
represents his blood, his death, bring a pagan in here and give
him that wine, he drinks and it means nothing. He's gone through
the ceremony but it doesn't mean anything. But we see that wine
as his blood shed for our sins, as his atonement which puts away
our guilt. And when we take that wine, it
means something, it's a confession, it's an identification. That's the reason we don't re-baptize
anyone, we baptize them. A person who has not known Christ
and believed on Christ, whatever form he's gone through, whether
it's sprinkling or immersion or whatever it is, it's nothing
but form, it's nothing but religious ritual. But when you come to
a living experience and a living faith in Christ and you're baptized,
that means something, that's a confession. Let me show you
some more scripture now. Look at Acts 8, verse 12. Listen to what it says. Now, watch these words, Acts
8, verse 12. But when they believed, but when they believed, P. Philip
preached them, they were baptized. When they believed. Acts 10,
verse 47. Look over here, Acts 10, verse
47. These people Peter says, Can anybody forbid water, that
these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost? They believe they received the
Holy Spirit at 16 verse 14. Listen to this, And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshiped God, heard us. heart the Lord opened, and she
attended unto the things spoken by Paul, and when she was baptized."
He said in Acts 2 verse 41, "...they that gladly received his word
were baptized." Now, if you turn in your Bible to the book of
Romans chapter 6, the mode of baptism, He is by the scriptural mode
of baptism, he is by immersion of the whole body beneath the
water. There is no other scriptural
mode. I'm not being sectarian or being cantankerous. Being baptized doesn't make me
a Baptist. I'm simply saying that the scriptural mode of baptism
is immersion of the whole body beneath the water. It can't be
any other way. beginning with verse 1. Listen to this, the
two baptisms here. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
his death? What is this? This is the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has immersed
us into Christ. To be baptized into Christ is
to be immersed into Christ, not just to be sprinkled with his
death or his blood, but to be immersed into him. We are in
Christ. In Christ we are chosen, in Christ
we are redeemed, in Christ we are sanctified, in Christ we
are purified, in Christ we are ransomed, in Christ, that's where
I am, I'm seated with him in the heavens. On this earth, when
he walked this earth, I was in him like Isaac was in Abraham's
When our Lord went to the cross, I was in him, his death was my
death, his burial was my burial, his resurrection was my resurrection,
and I'm seated right now in him on the right hand of God, in
Christ. I am immersed in the Christ by the Holy Spirit. You
are saved if you are a believer. We are in Christ, we are one
with him. God loves us in Christ, God blesses us in Christ, God
accepts us in Christ, God regards us in Christ. We're not little
parts of Christ running around out here, and Christ is here
and we're out here. We're all in one, in him. In
Adam we died, in Christ we're made alive. In Adam we fell,
in Christ we're restored. In Adam we're good, but in Christ
is life. God just sees two men, two Adams,
the first one of theirs earthly, the second the Lord from heaven.
We're in Christ. That's the first bad guy, the
second one. Therefore, because we are immersed in Christ, therefore
we are buried. Now, my friends, baptism is a
burial. The waters of baptism are a grave. We are buried with Christ by
baptism into death. that like as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection." What's he saying? This is what he's
saying. Baptism is a burial. You don't bury anybody but a
dead man. is one requirement for burial,
you've got to be buried. When our Lord died, we took him
down from the tree and buried him, and then he arose. And this is what baptism is saying.
We are buried in the likeness of his death beneath the water. The person stands in the water
and the minister puts him beneath the water. That's the way Christ
died and he was buried, and it's all gone. You don't see anything
but the top of the water. And then we are raised in the
likeness of his resurrection. Now, watch this. When a man is
baptized, he is confessing that he has made a break with the
old life. and he is risen to walk in newness
of life." Christ's burial. Now, let's get this. Christ's
burial, dividing his earthly life into two parts. On that side of the grave, Christ
had a natural body. On this side of the grave, a
spiritual body. On that side of the waters of
baptism, a confession of what God has done for me, I'm a natural
man, that's all. On this side, I'm a spiritual
man. On that side of the grave, our Lord was identified with
sin. He walked this world in the likeness of sinful flesh.
He was numbered with the transgressors, he was identified with sin, and
yet he came to one point before that grave when nothing but the
total wrath of God was upon him, the total wrath. God deserted
him, God forsook him, the total wrath of God, the power of wrath
on this side of the grave. all glory, that substance, raised
for our justification, raised without sin, no more. He was buried and raised without
sin. Back here on this side of the
waters of baptism, I'm a child of wrath. I'm saying this, that when Christ
died, I died. When Christ was buried, I was
buried. When Christ arose, I rose. And I walk over here in total
glory, no more the wrath but love. No more judgment, no condemnation
to them who are in practice. That's what baptism is saying. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism unto death, death to the old way, death to the
old life, death to the old condemnation. And in the likeness of his resurrection,
we arise from that water of graves and walk in the newness of life. John 3.23. And John was baptizing
in Enum, near the Salem. Why? Because there was much water
there. To have a burial, you've got
to have a much water, a big hole. You don't bury a man by sprinkling
some dirt in his face. He's not buried. He's still right
there on top. You've got to bury him. Matthew
3.16 says, Acts 8, verse 39, says, Philip and the eunuch both
went down into the water, and they both came up out of the
water. Just one way to go in a grave, and that's completely.
Let me give you these things, and I'll close. When a man is
baptized, he's confessing his sins. My sins deserve death. When a man is baptized, he's
confessing the only way of salvation, and that's by Christ, being buried
and rising again. When a man is baptized, he is
confessing that he is a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He is identified
with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. When a man
is baptized, he is confessing to the world he is saved and
God is free. We confess that Christ became
a man, that Christ was our representative, that Christ was our sacrifice,
that Christ was our sin offering, that Christ was buried, that
Christ rose again, that he is our intercessor. Now, 1 John
5.3, I want you to turn over and look at this. This is my
closing comment. Somebody says, Well, preacher,
you've preached all your life and you still believe. I presume
that baptism is not essential for salvation. You're absolutely
right, it's not. A person can be baptized and go to hell. person
can not be baptized and believe on Christ and go to heaven, because
it's Christ that saves. Water can't put away sin. Take
blood. Without shedding of blood, there's
no remission. I may never take the Lord's table and still be
saved. I may take it a dozen times and
not know God. I may never be baptized and I'll
still be saved by trusting Christ, by believing on Christ. I believe
there are people saved who have been sprinkled I think they're
walking in ignorance, I think they're walking in darkness,
I think they're denying the Scripture, but they can still know the Lord,
keep on the cross to meet the Lord, Christ Jesus. There's no
doubt about that. He said, Today thou shalt be
with me in paradise. Now, look at 1 John 5, verse
3. Someone says, Well, baptism is not essential. Why make an
issue of it? Well, there are many commandments of our Lord
that are not essential. That's right, not essential to
my salvation, but they're important true love knows no distinction
between the essential and the nonessential. The very fact that
it's the word of God that makes it pleasant. 1 John 5 says, This
is the love of God that we keep his commandments. He commanded
them to be baptized. His commandments are not grievous.
No, they're not. If that's what my Lord said to
me, that's what I'm going to do, because his commandments
are not greedy. Baptisms are confessions. I want
you to read that little article that I have in the book on page
3 and 4, and I want you to read it carefully and I want you to
read it closely. I think it explains exactly what I'm saying. A man
has been saved, a young person. What am I to do, Christian? You
ought to confess your Lord. He said, If you confess me before
me, then I'll confess you before the Father. How do I confess
the Lord? How does the Scripture say? Believe
and follow him and God will forgive you. I want to sing a closing
hymn.

Baptism - Our Confession

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Baptism - Our Confession

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